The literature is replete with designs of men's underwear that attempt to enhance, displace or reshape the male genitals. Many such prior art designs surround or envelop the entire male genitals. Some may be difficult to don; others may be painful to wear, and others still may be bizarre in appearance. All of them generally attempt to recreate the appearance of the natural lines and contours of the genitals with their own particular design.
One category of these prior art designs has a front panel which covers the male genitals, and sometimes provides a small amount of material to act as a single-pouch support for holding the male genitals. Such front genital covers are then integrated into underwear, and are held to the body by an included waistband. An example of this first category can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,157,793 which discloses an oval-shaped hole in the crotch panel of the underwear and a dome-shaped single-pouch which is attached at the hole periphery. Basically designed to deform the genitals, this pouch, in use, has been found to cause varying degrees of discomfort.
Another category uses either flaps, channels, bags, pockets, holes, or slots for wrangling, hanging, suspending, or guiding the penis into some structure for containing the scrotum. These mechanisms create an unnatural, and often painful, separation of the penis from the scrotum. An example of this second category is disclosed in U.S. Design Pat. No. 268,964, which provides a construction for surgical or medical applications and this is not intended to provide comfort.
Another category includes protective devices structured to merely cover the male genitals. These devices are held in place by conventional briefs or athletic supporters that may be worn over them, making them cumbersome since they must be retained by an additional article of clothing. Moreover, none of the designs in this category cover the genitals in a manner that retains their natural shape but, rather, each causes an unnatural reshaping to be imposed upon the genitals. They are thus generally uncomfortable to wear. A typical structure of this third category is disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,731,063.
Another category relates to decorative and protective devices which are designed to cover only the crotch area of the wearer, whether the scrotum or the penis or both. These devices are held in place by means which either bind about the base circumference of the male genitals or use a wire retainer that extends from the front crotch area to the rear between the buttocks. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,467,482, for example, a decorative device is configured with a flat fabric suspended by a wire frame that does not hold the genitals. Such a construction is inherently uncomfortable and, at best, will cause the wearer's genitals to be exposed from the top, bottom and sides and, at most, will permit the genitals to fall out the bottom, exposing them.
As a rule, the above prior art designs disturb and distort the shape of the genitals and, in general, are needlessly complex. This complexity both increases the difficulty and discomfort associated with the use of the prior art designs and adds to their manufacturing cost relative to conventional undergarments.
Accordingly, a need exists for a garment that lifts the male genitals so as to prominently expose their shape without, however, providing significant discomfort to the wearer. Furthermore, a need also exists for such a garment which is not significantly more difficult or significantly more expensive to manufacture than conventional garments.
Before turning to a summary of the invention, it must be appreciated that the above description of the prior art has been provided merely as background to explain the context of the invention. Accordingly, reference to any prior art in this specification is not, and should not be taken as, an acknowledgment or any form of suggestion that this prior art is known or forms part of the common general knowledge in any country.